Rigging a Low Poly Character in Maya 2018

Learn to rig a low-poly Maya character with an FK/IK armature, space switching, IK hips and arms, twist joints, and robust naming for reliable animation.

Build a spine and head joint chain in Maya 2018, using side and front views, the joint tool, and an organized outliner hierarchy to rig a low-poly character.

Create the leg rig by building the pelvis, hip, knee, ankle, and toe joints in maya 2018, name and prefix the hierarchy, and mirror to the left leg.

Create the left arm skeleton by placing joints for shoulder, elbow, and wrist in Maya, aligning with the C-spine and planning IK-driven motion, then mirror and prepare for hand joints.

Place and name hand and finger joints in Maya, from the wrist to the thumb and fingers, then mirror, rename, and prefix for a ready-to-orient hand skeleton.

Orient the spine joints in Maya 2018 using the Comet Joint Orient script, setting the aim axis to x and world up to y for consistent rotations.

Orient the arm rig by aligning shoulder, finger, and thumb joints using local rotation axes, tweaking and rotating with hierarchy, to achieve consistent curling along the z axis.

Orient the pelvis and legs to align joint axes for a stable ik chain; create a forearm form joint and use a point constraint to align wrist and elbow.

Create IK chains on the body with a rotate plane solver, naming pelvis, legs, feet, and arms, using a Manolo_ prefix and an _HDL suffix.

Organize spine controls by creating a temporary IK handle group, an overall translate group, and a spine chain (low, mid, high) with neck and C-spine components.

Create head and neck controls using a NURBS circle, reparent shapes, and freeze transformations. Add a jaw control and color-code centralized controls with prefix naming to prep for leg rigging.

Rename controls with search and replace to add the _ctrl suffix, then constrain them to spine, neck, and jaw joints using maintain offset.

Create foot and knee controls for a Maya rig by building left side controllers, snapping to ankle joints, duplicating to the right, and applying pull-vector constraints and custom attributes.

Create and organize foot groupings for a Maya 2018 low poly rig, including heel raise and toe tap groups, then attach IK handles under the appropriate groups.

Connects rotation controls to the foot controls in Maya 2018, using the connection editor to map heel lift, toe tap, and toe swivel, and fixes capitalization with search and replace.

Connect the foot controls with the connection editor, mapping heel lift, toe tap, and toe swivel to rotate axes, rename for left and right, and colorize for clarity.

Learn a simple hip rig setup in Maya 2018 by creating a 4x4 curve grid on the ground, building pelvis controls, and parenting IK handles to drive hip motion.

Create collar and shoulder controls in Maya 2018 by building two joint controllers, snapping pivots, mirroring left and right, and parenting them under C-spine group, with color coding for clarity.

Set up left and right arm IK controls in Maya by creating custom controllers, snapping to joints, and applying constraints to bend the elbow while keeping the wrist oriented.

Learn how to constrain the forearm joint in Maya 2018 by using an orient constraint to split rotation between the elbow and wrist, preserving wrist volume and simulating forearm rotation.

Create finger controls for a Maya 2018 low-poly character using NURBS circle controllers, color-coded handles, and properly oriented thumb joints for precise rigging; define curl and spread attributes per finger.

Learn to reorder and connect channel box attributes in Maya 2018 using a Python script, and set up global controls like thumb spread and fist for finger rigging.

Export, duplicate, and import a finger control in Maya 2018 to connect finger attributes to the wrist via point constraints, rotation mappings, and direct finger spreads.

Learn to create finger spread controls and cup joint rotation in Maya using set driven keys, grouping finger parts and keying rotations for consistent spread behavior.

Build a global fist in maya 2018 by wiring palm joint groups to finger controls with set driven keys, enabling a single driver to create fist poses and controlled spreads.

Connect the right side controls with the node editor and map finger joints to rotate axes, using unit conversions to build a Maya rig.

Connect the right cup, spread, and fist controls in Maya 2018 by setting rotate X constraints driven by the cup joint and mirroring the setup on the left.

Explore space switching for arms in Maya 2018 using an offset group and a follow constraint to switch attachment between the collarbone, upper spine, or world space.

Learn to build a space-switching elbow rig in Maya 2018, using set driven keys and a color, translate, and collarbone follow system for flexible FK/IK control.

Learn space switching the feet in Maya 2018 by building arm IK and leg follow controls, using parent constraints, driven keys, and translate and COAG attributes.

Create and connect a master scale attribute with a minimum of 0.2 and a default of 1 to drive the rig, linking skeletal and control groups via constraints.

Create a face control constrained to the head joint, then clean up the rig by locking attributes and add a curvy neck control driven by a multiply/divide node.

Learn how to bind a low-poly Maya mesh to a skeleton using selected joints, geodesic voxel weighting, and weight painting, with prep steps for IK controls and quick control sets.

Continue setting up the weight dance in Maya 2018 by building poses, applying weight painting, and setting keyframes for hip, spine, and arm controls with select all and worldspace.

Explore weight painting for a low poly Maya 2018 character, focusing on fingers, wrist, neck, and mirroring poses to prevent elbow collapse and refine constraints.

Learn weight painting for a low poly Maya character by duplicating geometry to create corrective blend shapes, then place them below the skin cluster and paint weights.

Paint weights on a low-poly Maya character, focusing on the shoulder. Use the paint weights tool to adjust collarbone and spine influences with add, replace, and smooth operations.

Paint and mirror skin weights across the yz plane to create symmetry, then use the component editor to balance elbow and wrist influences for a smooth, practical rig.

Paint weights on the fingers to control palm and knuckle influence. Flood knuckles to 100 percent or 50 percent and adjust joints to maintain volume.

Paint skin weights for the feet and mirror weights across the body, then refine hip and ankle controls to improve deformation; test with a walk cycle.